Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/195

 CEMETERY 187 Spanish brown, melted together and tempered with a little beeswax and tallow. Opticians' cement, for a similar purpose, the fixing of glasses for grinding, is made of sifted wood ashes and melted pitch. White lead cement, made by grinding linseed oil varnish and white lead together, is used for repairing fractured bodies of all kinds, but requires a considerable time to harden. Plumbers' cement is made of two parts of brick dust and one of black resin melted together. Iron rust cement is made by mixing 50 or 100 parts of iron filings with one part of sal ammoniac. When used it is moist- ened with enough water to form a paste. The subsequent rusting and the consequent packing of the joints to which it may be applied gives it a particular value. Sometimes clay may be added to the mixture with advantage. A solu- tion of shellac in alcohol, added to one of isin- glass in proof spirit, makes a cement which has considerable power to resist the action of moisture. Common glue, melted with half its weight of resin and a small quantity of red ochre to impart body, is used in cementing hones to their frames. A strong cement for stoneware is made by boiling the cheese of skimmed milk in a large quantity of water, and incorporating the solution with quicklime in a mortar. It may be used cold, but it is better to warm it. It joins earthenware, marble, or any kind of stone so that the seam can scarcely be discovered. A cement composed of from four to six parts of potters' clay and one of iron filings, with enough linseed oil to form a paste, makes a cement which is often used in stopping cracks in steam boilers. In the distillation of caoutchouc, the residue left in the retort, when again mixed with the distilled oil, or caou- tchoucine, forms an elastic cement which is much used by shipwrights; and another tena- cious cement is made by dissolving one part of caoutchouc in four parts of coal tar, adding two parts of shellac, and heating the mixture in an iron vessel. CEMETERY (Gr. notfirirfpiov, a sleeping place), a place appointed for the burial of the dead. In rude states of society the dead are often buried in any place that may be found most conve- nient, by the side of some road, or in some va- cant spot in the city ; but even in very ancient times grounds were often set apart which were especially appropriated for the reception of the dead. The Hebrews had public burial grounds, and their first care upon arriving in a new country was to select a plot and reserve it as a burial place. Every city bad one outside of its walls, that of Jerusalem being in the valley of Kedron. Ruins and mummies have been found in Babylonia and Egypt which show that the burial places in those countries in for- mer times were of immense extent. Although the Greeks in later times adopted from Phry- gia the custom of burning the dead, yet their custom originally was to provide cemeteries. Among the Romans also the more ancient practice was the appropriation of ground for interment; and even after incremation had been introduced, the practice continued, and the Appian way was lined with sepulchres as well as with funeral urns. The early Christians would seem to have introduced a somewhat different practice. The laws of the twelve ta- bles had prescribed that the dead should not be buried within the walls of the city. The early Christians, however, erected some of their churches upon plots of ground in which were interred the remains of martyrs, and around others reserved an open space which was con- secrated for the reception of their dead. In the middle ages also churchyards were used for cemeteries. Even the churches themselves were occupied in part for tombs, and crypts and vaults were excavated beneath their floors. The church, deriving a considerable revenue from the burial of the dead, inculcated the importance of burial in consecrated ground, over which it retained control. To this day the older churches in large cities are surround- ed by graves, and in small towns and villages the burial ground is usually near the church. The increase of population and a better knowl- edge of the laws of health have in a measure restored the ancient practice, and cemeteries are at the present day generally provided with- out the limits of all large towns and cities. There are many cemeteries which are cele- brated. Those around the city of Constanti- nople have become very extensive on account of the practice of invariably opening a new grave for each corpse, it being considered sacrilege to disturb the dead. The practice is also to plant a cypress by the grave of every Mussulman, so that the cemeteries of Constan- tinople are embowered in forests. Those of Scutari and Pera are the most noted. The cemetery of Pisa in Italy, called the Campo Santo, is a beautiful oblong court, 490 ft. long and 170 ft. wide, surrounded by arcades of white marble 60 ft. high, and adorned with ancient Etruscan, Greek, and Roman bass reliefs and other sculptures, and with paintings by the early Italian masters. In its centre is an enor- mous mound of earth said to have been brought from Palestine during the crusades, and for- merly used as a burial ground. This cemetery is the Pantheon of the Pisans, and among its most famous monuments is the tomb of Algarot- ti, erected by Frederick the Great in 1764. It has given its name to burial grounds throughout Italy. The campo santo of Bologna is one of the finest of them. It is without the city, and was anciently a Carthusian monastery called Certosa, having been consecrated as a ceme- tery in 1801, when burials within the citj were prohibited. The church of the monas- tery has been preserved, and is adorned with fine paintings. The cemetery occupies the corridors of two of the cloisters of the con- vent. Niches have been built in the walls for the reception of the dead. There is a large hall in which are placed the busts of those who have been eminent for learning. Some